Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • Services
    • Aircheck for Actors
    • Demo Reels
    • Audition Prep/Self-Tape Reader
    • Mailing Labels
    • Contribute
    • Industry Links
    • Advertise
    Daily Actor
    • Acting Tips
      • Actors on Acting
      • Advice Columns
      • Acting Quotes
      • Audition Tapes
      • How To Become An Actor
      • How to Memorize Lines
    • Monologues
      • Monologues from Plays
      • Monologues from Movies
      • Monologues from Musicals
      • Comedic Monologues
      • Dramatic Monologues
      • One Minute Monologues
      • Monologues for Women
      • Monologues for Men
      • Monologues for Teens
      • Monologues for Kids
      • All Monologues
    • Acting Resources
      • Acting Resume
        • Acting Resume Template
      • Acting Classes
        • Los Angeles Acting Classes
        • Las Vegas Acting Classes
        • San Diego Acting Classes
      • Acting Schools and Colleges
        • Los Angeles
        • New York
        • BFA Acting Schools
      • Casting Websites
      • Headshot Photographers
        • Los Angeles
        • New York City
        • Headshot Printing
      • Acting Techniques
        • What is Method Acting?
      • Stage Directions
      • Demo Reels: Everything You Need to Know
    • Interviews
      Featured
      Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

      Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

      Recent
      Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

      Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

      March 6, 2023
      Jeremy Davis Olaf in Frozen Interview

      Interview: Jeremy Davis on Playing Olaf in ‘Frozen’, Costume Mishaps and Making the Role His Own

      January 19, 2023
      Casting Director Kim Coleman Interview

      Interview: Casting Director Kim Coleman on ‘Five Days at Memorial’, Self-Tape Tips and Portraying Real People

      January 11, 2023
    • Actor Blogs
    • Reviews
      • Movies
      • Theater
      • Books
      • Products
    • Actor Services
      • Airchecks
      • Demo Reels
      • Website Design
      • Mailing Labels
    Daily Actor
    Home » Actors on Acting » Eddie Murphy: “I’ve had one audition. It was SNL.”
    Actors on Acting

    Eddie Murphy: “I’ve had one audition. It was SNL.”

    Chris McKittrickBy Chris McKittrickFebruary 21, 2020No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    “I’ve only had one audition my whole life, you know. What actor can make that assertion?” – Eddie Murphy

    Eddie Murphy‘s recent return to host Saturday Night Live — his first appearance on the program that helped make him a superstar since exiting the show in 1984 — was the type of television event that rarely happens in today’s environment saturated with media options.  In addition to giving Murphy the opportunity to reprise some of his most beloved SNL characters, it also gave the Oscar-nominated actor time to reflect on how he became a cast member of the legacy comedy series. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Murphy recalls how his audition proceeded for the series — which, incidentally, was the only audition in his entire career.

    Murphy admits that there is one aspect of his career that separates him from most other actors who have reached his level of success: he has had only one audition in his entire career. He reveals, “I’ve only had one audition my whole life, you know. What actor can make that assertion? … Yeah, nobody, and no matter how great they are, they’ve been on auditions. I’ve had one audition. It was SNL.”

    Of course, that one audition changed his entire life, so it remains memorable. Murphy remembers that he didn’t have much experience, saying, “I started doing stand-up when I was 15, so I got like three years before I get that audition. The first audition is literally a guy sitting in a room by himself, and he just says, ‘Make me laugh.’ Well, that would be daunting to most people, but because I had been doing stand-up I had 15 to 20 minutes of an act. I was used to going up late at night at the Comic Strip. When you’re a young comic you don’t get good spots, so you’re going up in front of five or six people anyway.”

    Regarding what he did at his audition, Murphy reveals that he did his best impressions — and that his audience of one had a surprising reaction. He says, “I did Jimmy Carter, back then I was doing him. I did Muhammad Ali, and Howie Cosell, and Bill Cosby. So all that stuff was in my little five-minute audition. He didn’t laugh at anything. I was just doing it, he was just sitting there watching me, and looking me up and down. After I did all my shit, he was like, ‘Thank you.’”

    Despite that reaction — or lack thereof — Murphy received a callback. Several of them, in fact. He continues, “I thought, I didn’t get it. Then they called me back a couple of weeks later, and it was two people in the room, and they said: ‘Make us laugh.’ I did the same thing—nobody laughed. Then it was three people in the room, and they said, ‘Make us laugh,’ and one guy kind of giggled a little bit. Then they brought me back to this big audition, and it was me and like maybe 10 other guys that had gotten to that level, and we had to read with the cast members. I read with [Joe] Piscopo—the sketch that I had seen Richard Pryor do when he hosted the show with Chevy Chase.”

    Luckily for Murphy, he was extremely familiar with that particular sketch. He says, “I had seen that sketch a bunch of times. So it was like, This is my audition? [Laughs.] I didn’t even need the paper! Did it. Crushed it. And got the show.”

    More: Eddie Murphy Reveals Why Drawing From His Personal Life Would Be “Too Much” For Him

    Related

    Previous ArticleMovie Review: ‘The Call of the Wild’ Starring Harrison Ford
    Next Article Actress Anna Maganini Details a Day of Shooting Her Film, ‘Dead Weight’

    Related Posts

    Jeremy Strong in Armageddon Time

    Jeremy Strong: “There’s infinite ways really to play any part. So you have to discover what feels necessary”

    March 14, 2023
    Christina Ricci

    How Christina Ricci Chooses Her Characters and Why She Loves ‘Yellowjackets’

    March 9, 2023
    Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

    Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

    March 6, 2023
    Add A Comment

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Daily Actor Facebook Daily Actor Twitter Daily Actor Instagram Daily Actor Pinterest Daily Actor YouTube Page
    Popular Pages
    Become An Actor | Acting Tips | Acting Quotes
    Acting Resume | Resume Template
    Headshot Photographers
    Los Angeles | New York
    Print Your Headshots
    Acting Schools & Colleges
    Los Angeles | New York
    Monologues
    Movies | Plays | Comedic | Dramatic
    Men | Women | Teens | Kids
    • Contact
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Resource Listings
    • Write A Column
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy

    Disclaimer: Daily Actor at times uses affiliate links to sites like Amazon.com, streaming services, and others. Affiliate links provides compensation to Daily Actor which helps us remain online, giving you the resources and information actors like you are looking for.

    © 2023 Daily Actor

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.